Behind the Scenes

Mediterranean Garden Pictures

See Mediterranean garden pictures from my Cyprus garden after 5 years of growth. Look how much has changed since the garden was landscaped.

The above pictures show how what seem to be tiny little shrubs can grow into lush green monsters in just a few years.

I've been brutal this past year in cutting most of the shrubs back to just a few inches high. I tried it last year on a few of them and they came back even stronger than before! But this year my plan is try and trim them as they grow rather than leave them for 6 months to do their own thing! Mediterranean gardening is still a bit of a learning curve for me LOL.

Cyprus Garden Pictures

This selection of Mediterranean garden pictures are some of my favorite plants in Cyprus. All of them are easy to grow - after all if I can do it, then anyone can!

This is an incredible variegated bougainvillea taken in May 2010 - by August it was 3 x the size!

It cascades everywhere and we have to brutally cut it back in December, but the good thing about that is I get lots of cuttings. I've found it's trial and error with cuttings as some work and some don't.

You can take a 6-8" sections from anywhere on the bougainvillea (new growth or old), pop them in water for a few weeks, then plant them in some compost and wait to see if they take. I managed to get 3 cuttings to take last year from the bougainvilleas I have in the garden.

Most of the hibiscus you see in Cyprus are bright red. While I have one of those as seen in my earlier Cyprus garden pictures, my favorite is this gorgeous yellow version. It's in a part-shady spot and has double heads in winter which are bright orange, then by spring, it's transformed into golden yellow blooms.

I cut the flowers in winter to use as table decorations - they match my green and orange decor in the living room - and this particular bush has not grown too fast so I can easily train it into a lovely tree shape.

Lavender smells and looks wonderful, although the bushes, as seen in these Mediterranean garden pictures, can become woody after a few years. You can happily trim them back quite heavily and they will grow back the following year.

Once you start to notice they aren't flowering anymore, however, it's time to pull them out. I've done that this year with a few lavender bushes and replaced them with roses.

My all time favorite flower, the geranium, these are cheap to replace if they get a bit woody. This one is in a pot and they look best in winter (this picture was taken in January 2011) as although they still flower in summer, the heat can make them look a little tired.

I have them everywhere in the garden and the bright pink variety grows into an enormous bush the size of a tree! Just pull a piece off and plant it somewhere else if you want some cuttings. They also make great Mediterranean garden pictures.

This is the best of my purple solano bushes that flower all year round. They do need to be cut back 5-6 times per year and if you're clever/patient, you can trim them into shapes so they don't look so wild.

Me, I like the wild look! This picture was taken in January 2011, adding lots of color to a garden where I had hacked many of the other woody bushes. Bougainvillea in sunny spots also lends color especially on the odd grey day when we have rain.

Cyprus Gardening

Looking at my more recent Mediterranean garden pictures, the main things that have changed are

I've had to remove some of the plants as they were too close together and believe me, that isn't easy when they have enormous roots.

Adding a few bits of extra color like roses and

the biggest change was pulling out most of our oleander bushes to make way for some drainage at the rear of the house, part of a bigger project to block-pave the entrance. Here's what it looks like now:

The biggest change for next year is my attempt at becoming semi self-sufficient by growing our own vegetables, There's even a plan in the works to get some chickens... I already have pots filled with squash and courgettes growing on tripods (thanks Jane!) and my cherry tomatoes have re-seeded and are growing strongly again on the roof.

My inspiration? A book called Jane's Delicious Garden. She makes growing your own vegetables fun and sexy and I'm now on a mission!